Microaggressions and depressive symptoms in sexual minority youth:The roles of rumination and social support.

Mental health disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual youth are often explained by discriminatory experiences and rejection. Although many studies focus on explicit victimization, the consequences of subtle, everyday discriminations (“microaggressions”) against sexual minority youth are unknown. With an online study among 267 Dutch sexual minority youth (ages 16–22 years) we investigated indirect associations between sexual orientation microaggression experiences and depressive symptoms through rumination and whether these could be buffered by sexuality-specific support. Microaggression experiences were indirectly related to depressive symptoms, through rumination. We found no buffering effects of support. Findings call for awareness of the potentially negative impact of subtle discriminatory experiences, in addition to explicit discrimination, and the negative mental health outcomes that may develop as a result of ruminative emotion regulation

To excel and to be happy: Parenting behaviors, parenting stress, and sociocultural contexts in Dutch and urban Chinese families

The current research examined the similarities and differences in parenting behaviors between 1090 Dutch and 2339 urban Chinese mothers with 1- to 4-year olds and investigated to what extent group differences in parenting stress, proportions of only children, and maternal working hours explain cultural variations in parenting behaviors. Thirteen parenting behaviors were assessed using the Comprehensive Early Childhood Parenting Questionnaire. Parenting stress was measured by 10 items selected from the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form. Mothers also reported whether the child was an only child and how many hours they worked per week. Results showed that Dutch mothers and urban Chinese mothers had similar levels of sensitivity, affection, using toys, verbal punishment, and positive discipline. For the other 8 parenting behaviors on which cultural variations were found, a mediational model, examining whether parenting stress, the only-child status, and maternal working time could explain cultural differences in parenting behaviors, was investigated. Compared to Dutch mothers, urban Chinese mothers had higher parenting stress, worked longer hours, and were more likely to have an only child. The group differences in involvement in activities, exposure, over-reactivity, and physical punishment were fully explained by cultural differences in parenting stress and proportions of only children. These mediators, however, only explained a part of the cultural differences in responsiveness, psychological control, consistency, and laxness, showing that Dutch mothers were still more consistent in enforcing rules and less lax in parenting, whereas urban Chinese mothers were still slightly more responsive to children's signals, but also more psychologically controlling

Is the Peer Presence Effect on Heightened Adolescent Risky Decision-Making only Present in Males?

Abstract: Social neurodevelopmental imbalance models posit that peer presence causes heightened adolescent risk-taking particularly during early adolescence. Evolutionary theory suggests that these effects would be most pronounced in males. However, the small but growing number of experimental studies on peer presence effects in adolescent risky decision-making showed mixed findings, and the vast majority of such studies did not test for the above-described gender and adolescent phase moderation effects. Moreover, most of those studies did not assess the criterion validity of the employed risky decision-making tasks. The current study was designed to investigate the abovementioned hypotheses among a sample of 327 ethnically-diverse Dutch early and mid-adolescents (49.80% female; Mage = 13.61). No main effect of peer presence on the employed risky-decision making task (i.e., the stoplight game) was found. However, the results showed a gender by peer presence moderation effect. Namely, whereas boys and girls engaged in equal levels of risks when they completed the stoplight game alone, boys engaged in more risk-taking than girls when they completed this task together with two same-sex peers. In contrast, adolescent phase did not moderate peer presence effects on risk-taking. Finally, the results showed that performance on the stoplight game predicted self-reported real-world risky traffic behavior, alcohol use and delinquency. Taken together, using a validated task, the present findings demonstrate that individual differences (i.e., gender) can determine whether the social environment (i.e., peer presence) affect risk-taking in early- and mid-adolescents. The finding that performance on a laboratory risky decision-making task can perhaps help identify adolescents that are vulnerable to diverse types of heightened risk behaviors is an important finding for science as well as prevention and intervention efforts

Is the Peer Presence Effect on Heightened Adolescent Risky Decision-Making only Present in Males?

Abstract: Social neurodevelopmental imbalance models posit that peer presence causes heightened adolescent risk-taking particularly during early adolescence. Evolutionary theory suggests that these effects would be most pronounced in males. However, the small but growing number of experimental studies on peer presence effects in adolescent risky decision-making showed mixed findings, and the vast majority of such studies did not test for the above-described gender and adolescent phase moderation effects. Moreover, most of those studies did not assess the criterion validity of the employed risky decision-making tasks. The current study was designed to investigate the abovementioned hypotheses among a sample of 327 ethnically-diverse Dutch early and mid-adolescents (49.80% female; Mage = 13.61). No main effect of peer presence on the employed risky-decision making task (i.e., the stoplight game) was found. However, the results showed a gender by peer presence moderation effect. Namely, whereas boys and girls engaged in equal levels of risks when they completed the stoplight game alone, boys engaged in more risk-taking than girls when they completed this task together with two same-sex peers. In contrast, adolescent phase did not moderate peer presence effects on risk-taking. Finally, the results showed that performance on the stoplight game predicted self-reported real-world risky traffic behavior, alcohol use and delinquency. Taken together, using a validated task, the present findings demonstrate that individual differences (i.e., gender) can determine whether the social environment (i.e., peer presence) affect risk-taking in early- and mid-adolescents. The finding that performance on a laboratory risky decision-making task can perhaps help identify adolescents that are vulnerable to diverse types of heightened risk behaviors is an important finding for science as well as prevention and intervention efforts

A Meta-analysis of Attachment to Parents and Delinquency

To investigate the link between attachment to parents and delinquency, and the potential moderating effects of age and sex, 74 published and unpublished manuscripts (N = 55,537 participants) were subjected to a multilevel meta-analysis. A mean small to moderate effect size was found (r = 0.18). Poor attachment to parents was significantly linked to delinquency in boys and girls. Stronger effect sizes were found for attachment to mothers than attachment to fathers. In addition, stronger effect sizes were found if the child and the parent had the same sex compared to cross-sex pairs of children and parents. Age of the participants moderated the link between attachment and delinquency: larger effect sizes were found in younger than in older participants. It can be concluded that attachment is associated with juvenile delinquency. Attachment could therefore be a target for intervention to reduce or prevent future delinquent behavior in juveniles

Trajectories of Delinquency and Parenting Styles

We investigated trajectories of adolescent delinquent development using data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study and examined the extent to which these different trajectories are differentially predicted by childhood parenting styles. Based on self-reported and official delinquency seriousness, covering ages 10–19, we identified five distinct delinquency trajectories differing in both level and change in seriousness over time: a nondelinquent, minor persisting, moderate desisting, serious persisting, and serious desisting trajectory. More serious delinquents tended to more frequently engage in delinquency, and to report a higher proportion of theft. Proportionally, serious persistent delinquents were the most violent of all trajectory groups. Using cluster analysis we identified three parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian (moderately supportive), and neglectful (punishing). Controlling for demographic characteristics and childhood delinquency, neglectful parenting was more frequent in moderate desisters, serious persisters, and serious desisters, suggesting that parenting styles differentiate non- or minor delinquents from more serious delinquents

Intra- and Inter-Individual Differences in Adolescent Depressive Mood: the Role of Relationships with Parents and Friends

Abstract: Utilizing four waves of data from 1126 secondary school Dutch adolescents (Mage = 13.95 at the first wave; 53% boys), the current study examined the interplay between parent-adolescent and friend-adolescent relationship quality (satisfaction and conflict) in relation to adolescents’ depressive mood. Using multilevel analyses, the interacting effects of parent/friend relationship quality on depressive mood were tested at both the intra- and inter-individual level. Analyses at the intra-individual level investigated whether individual depressive mood fluctuated along with changes in their social relationships regardless of one’s general level of depressive mood; and analyses at the inter-individual level examined whether the average differences in depressive mood between adolescents were associated with different qualities of social relationships. We interpreted the patterns of interactions between parent and friend relationships using four theoretical models: the reinforcement, toxic friends, compensation, and additive model. The results demonstrate the covariation of parent- and friend- relationship quality with adolescents’ depressive mood, and highlight that parent and peer effects are not independent from each other—affirming the compensation and additive models at the intra-individual and the reinforcement and additive models at the inter-individual level. The findings highlight the robustness of the protective effects of parent and peer support and the deleterious effects of conflictual relationships for adolescent mental health. The results have implications for both the theoretical and practical design of (preventive) interventions aimed at decreasing adolescents’ depressive mood

The Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to 11% of the variance in delinquency. Several effect sizes were moderated by parent and child gender, child age, informant on parenting, and delinquency type, indicating that some parenting behaviors are more important for particular contexts or subsamples. Although both dimensions of warmth and support seem to be important, surprisingly very few studies focused on parenting styles. Furthermore, fewer than 20% of the studies focused on parenting behavior of fathers, despite the fact that the effect of poor support by fathers was larger than poor maternal support, particularly for sons. Implications for theory and parenting are discussed

Revisiting goodness of fit in the cultural context: Moving forward from post hoc explanations

The goodness-of-fit model, which proposes that developmental outcomes result from combinations of environmental and children’s factors, has contributed substantially to the recognition of person × environment processes. However, which pattern of person × environment interactions characterizes this model remains unclear, making it difficult to test or compare with other models (e.g., the differential-susceptibility model). In this article, we offer solutions for these issues. We propose that a contrastive effect pattern best summarizes both goodness of fit and poorness of fit. We outline methodological considerations that help determine whether a person × environment interaction supports the goodness-of-fit model. We then discuss how person × environment interactions can be culturally specific, an issue aligned with the goodness-of-fit model but not other models. We illustrate cultural specificities in socialization-by-temperament interactions with evidence from different sociocultural groups. These theoretical and methodological refinements help clarify how person × environment interactions can be interpreted and predicted by the goodness-of-fit model